


Music To My Ears

by alistoney



Category: The Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Teachers, Copious Amounts of Fluff, Fluff, Kitty - Freeform, M/M, Malec, Panic Attack, band teacher alec, drama teacher magnus, tda kids, the kids all ship malec
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-14
Updated: 2018-03-14
Packaged: 2019-03-31 01:58:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13964904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alistoney/pseuds/alistoney
Summary: Emma,” Alec says startled, but he’s smiling, “do you need something?”Emma grins as she looks between Magnus and Alec and her eyes turn mischievous.“I did come to ask whether you’d found out about the all-state audition music, but I can see that you’re quite busy so I’ll come back another time.” She winks and turns to Ty and indicates that they’re leaving.Or the one where band teacher Alec and drama teacher Magnus have a special connection and their students make it their goal to get them together.





	Music To My Ears

**Author's Note:**

> Oh my gosh! This fic has been my baby for so long and I’m so happy I can finally let it out into the world for everyone to see!! I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it!! 
> 
> Special thanks to [Causteek](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Causteek) for being the absolute best beta in the entire world and dealing with my god awful grammar and making me happy by telling me I was killing her with fluff. 
> 
> Also special thanks to [stupidnephilimlove](https://archiveofourown.org/users/stupidnephilimlove/pseuds/stupidnephilimlove) for making the cover art for this fic and making me die because it’s absolutely amazing!!! 
> 
> And also an extra special thank you to [Accal1a](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Accal1a/pseuds/Accal1a) who helped me with some Ty scenes and really just all the tda characters in general ily! 
> 
> All of you made writing this so much better than it would have and I love you to death! I’m so glad I joined this event! Thank you for dealing with me lol.
> 
> UPDATE: Accal1a recorded a [PODFIC](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14813028) for this fic and I died. Everyone should go listen to it!!!

Alec walks into the school the first day back from winter break expecting to be confronted with the faces of high school kids who want to be anywhere but back at school, yet instead, he's greeted with excited faces and hushed whispers throughout the performing arts hall.

The students all seem to be huddled outside the drama room and Alec quirks an eyebrow at Izzy who's leaning on the doorway to the orchestra room in hopes of getting an explanation. All she does is smirk back at Alec and tip an imaginary hat before turning and disappearing into her classroom.

This can't be good.

Alec makes his way around the students and into the band room ready to organize everything from the winter concert they had right before the break.

He sighs as he sees the mess of a room. Sheet music everywhere, jumbled messes of scores across his desk, instrument cases on the floor.

He groans in defeat. Looking back on it now, leaving all the clean up till after the holidays was a fucking horrible idea.

Usually, his unorganized-ness doesn't bother him. This room is his and all his students seem to find it endearing when he can't remember where he left his baton or score. But this, this is something else entirely. He's going to need the students’ help to clean all this up.

He can't wait, they're already going to be grumbly about being back in class.

He sets to work piling sheet music from the same piece into piles to get ready for organization by his students in a later period.

He has a free period and honest to god he was going to clean up, he was, it's just that he can't look at the mess without wincing and he really is curious as to what all the commotion is out in the hall. Plus, he hasn't seen either Jace or Clary since break when they decided to ditch him for the warm weather of California and he needs to be a good brother/friend and check on them.

He wanders out of his classroom just in time to see Jace walking into the choir room, Clary right behind him.

"Jace," he calls from across the hall and hurries over to the two other teachers.

Jace turns around with a wide smile and slams Alec into a hug as if they haven't seen each other in a year, which technically he guesses, is true. Alec grimaces internally at the bad joke. Good thing he didn’t say that out loud. Still, Alec sags into his brother and smiles at Clary, who's smiling at the two of them fondly.

"Alright, fine Fray, you can join." He mumbles into Jace’s shoulder. Despite their initial hatred of each other Alec has grown quite fond of Clary.

"I knew this day would come," she exclaims, grinning wide.

“You coming or what? This is a one time offer.” Alec says in response and soon Clary is barreling into him and Jace.

“Shut up, Lightwood,”

As they pull apart Alec attempts to glare at Clary but ends up failing and pouting instead.

“Hey don’t be mean to me, I haven’t seen you in forever,” he complains.

"Yeah, yeah whatever Alec, I'm still not sorry about going on a well-deserved vacation,” Jace grumbles out before Clary can reply.

  
Alec grimaces at the two of them at the mention, he's still mad at them for ditching him for the warmth of California for break. It's winter break. The cold is part of the experience.

  
“We got you a souvenir actually,” Jace says before pulling out something and handing it to Alec.

He takes it and finds that it’s a pin in the shape of a lemon with the words bitter written across them.

Jace and Clary are grinning like they’re the funniest people in the world and Alec rolls his eyes in exasperation.

"Haha very funny. You're wimps who are scared of a bit of snow and I will hold that against you for the rest of your life."

With that, he smacks Jace’s shoulder and nods at Clary before he makes his way back to his hell of a classroom.

***

His wind symphony class pours through the band doors in a sea of excitement and hushed whispering, same as the morning. Alec sighs as he makes his way out of his office. He still doesn't know what the deal is. Honestly, these kids aren't even this riled up on the last day of school.

He glances out into the hall discreetly and sees the same gathering of students by the drama room that has been a constant all day during breaks between classes and furrows his eyebrows.

What the fuck?

Emma, a flutist and one of Alec’s favorite students, though he'd never admit it to her, or anyone else for that matter, grins cheekily at him.

"Haven't you heard? There's a new drama teacher, he started today."

Alec’s eyes widen, "You mean Raj is gone? Like _gone_ gone? Forever?"

Emma grins wide in the way she does before she's about to embarrass Alec, which he doesn't know how she does seeing as she is his student and they shouldn't have the means of embarrassing him, yet here he is.

"This means you don't have to hide in the band locker room from him during lunch anymore."

Alec grumbles, "That was one time Emma, will you ever let me live that down?"

"No,” Julian, another one of his students who was apparently listening in on the conversation interrupts with a giggle into his hand and picks up his trumpet case from the floor, "it's the funniest way I've ever seen someone avoid unwanted flirtation."

"He flirted with me every day," Alec cries out in frustration, "even though I made it obvious I wasn't interested. What was I supposed to do?"

By now most of the class is listening in on their discussion and giggling at Alec’s distress.

He doesn't know why he's arguing with teenagers about his love life. Honestly, he needs to get out more. His students know too much about him.

***  
Magnus' first day as the new drama teacher doesn't exactly go the way he planned.

First off his alarm doesn't ring so he doesn't wake up until twenty minutes before his first class starts.

He has no time to shower or do his hair, and he thanks God that he has perfected the art of doing his makeup in less than 5 minutes and picked out his outfit the day before.

First impressions are everything, he's learned in his many years of life, especially with high school students, who judge anyone and anything they set their eyes on.

To make his already stressful morning even worse, when he gets to Idris High School with five minutes to spare he ends up getting spectacularly lost.

All the halls look the same, they should color code them or something, how the fuck do the students know how to get around, it’s like a labyrinth. Magnus is sure he's been down this same hall twenty times now.

As he's muttering to himself about labyrinths and maps he should have accepted from the lady at the front office he almost runs straight into a dark-haired woman a few inches shorter than himself.

"Woah there," the woman barks out on a laugh, putting her hands on Magnus' shoulders and righting him before he falls to the ground.

Magnus looks up and sees dark eyes sparkling in amusement and smiles back at her, "I'm Magnus," he says with a smile, holding out a hand to shake.

The woman takes his hand and smiles, "I’m Isabelle, the orchestra teacher. But you can call me Izzy. Nice to meet you, Magnus," she says with a slight tilt of her head and Magnus can't help but like her.

"Well, I seem to have gotten lost, do you by any chance know where the drama classroom is? I'm supposed to start teaching my first class in like," he looks over at the clock on the wall and cringes "five minutes and I have no idea how to get there."

Isabelle’s eyes bug out of her head at that and a slow smirk spreads across her face, "so you're the new drama teacher?" she asks rubbing her hands together evilly.

Magnus takes a cautious step back, maybe his first impression of the woman had been wrong, she looks like a murderer right now.

Isabelle cackles out a laugh and grabs Magnus’ arm, dragging him who knows where, hopefully, the drama room and not some hidden lair where she's going to torture Magnus.

"Alec’s gonna die," Izzy snickers and Magnus just furrows his eyebrows confusedly.

  
Who the hell is Alec?

He's pulled down a long hall and around a corner to stop in front of a room with a black door.

Izzy comes to a stop and spreads her arms out, "Welcome to the black box," she says, grinning hard as a crowd of students starts to gather around them, looking at Magnus curiously and whispering to each other. Magnus smiles at them but they just stare back as if they're silently deciding his worth. When did high schoolers become so intimidating?

  
Mangus snaps his head back to Izzy when she starts talking again

"Also known as the drama room," she winks, "Have fun on your first day, the drama kids can be quite a handful."

She looks meaningfully at the crowd gathered around them and the students laugh. Okay, so they aren't actually hostile. Magnus can do this. He'll win over their hearts.

Izzy pats his shoulder once and then steps out into the crowd and disappears, leaving Magnus in the middle of a crowd of high school students who are watching him so closely he feels like he's being interrogated. This is worse than the actual job interview.

He takes a deep breath, he's a grown-up adult, he's not afraid of a bunch of high schoolers, he loves kids, that's why he became a teacher in the first place. He'll win these guys over in a heartbeat; he just needs to stop acting like an awkward teenager and turn on the charm.

He claps his hand and smiles brightly. "Well ladies and gentleman, as you know I'm the new theater teacher so anyone who wants to interrogate me before first period, which judging from your faces is all of you, come on in."

That gets a chuckle out of the group and Magnus grins widely as he makes his way into the classroom.

  
***  
By the time his lunch break rolls around Magnus' mood has brightened considerably. The students are lively and loud and painfully eccentric. Everything drama students should be. He's managed to win a few hearts already and despite the student's apprehension at the beginning, they all seem to like him.

As the last of the students file out of the room, taking their loud chatter with them, Magnus suddenly feels very alone in his room as he pulls out a sandwich at his desk and looks around.

After five minutes of trying to pretend he's not bothered by the eerie quiet Magnus gets out of his chair and peeks out of the room.

He looks down the hall and sees it almost empty, except for a few students who are scattered throughout the hall eating their lunch.

He walks out into the hall with a determination in his step, he's not going to be that antisocial teacher. There must be a teacher's lounge around here somewhere, where he can eat lunch. Maybe he can find Isabelle, she seemed friendly enough and she hadn't led him to a torture chamber as he'd first feared, which is always a good thing.

He stops in his tracks when he hears soft melodic music float through the hall. His stomach swoops as the music swells and then crescendos down so softly that he can barely hear it.

He quickly starts to follow the sound. As he walks down the hall it gets louder and louder until he's halted outside what he believes is the band room, from the number of cases scattered outside the room and the papers talking about all-state band auditions and spring assessment pinned neatly to the bulletin board outside the door.

After an initial moment of apprehension, he pushes open one of the double doors and steps into the room.

His eyes widen as he takes in the sight before him.

There's a man turned towards the opposite wall swaying slightly as he plays gorgeous music on what looks to be a flute, deep vibrato filling the otherwise empty room with sweet melodic sound. The line of his back is long and broad, the white t-shirt he's wearing pulling just enough across it that Magnus can see his muscles flex as he moves gracefully to the rhythm. His hair is dark and messy and it looks so soft Magnus has to resist the urge to just walk up and run his hands through it. To top it all off he's got legs that look like they go on for ages and make his whole body look tall and broad. Magnus can't look away.

He may have forgotten how to breathe. This man is gorgeous and Magnus hasn't even seen his face yet.

The man doesn't seem to notice him, too lost in his music, and continues to move fluidly with it almost as if he's in a trance, eyes concentrated on the sheet music in front of him.

It's gorgeous and Magnus just leans against the wall next to the door closing his eyes and listening for a bit, letting the soothing sound of the flute wash over him.

The music eventually fades away to nothing and Magnus' eyes pop open just as the man turns around and spots him near the door.

His eyes widen and he lets out a yelp in surprise, his hand knocking the sheet music he was playing off of the stand.

Magnus' eyes widen as the sheets of music fly everywhere and he hurries to help him pick them up, after all this was sort of his fault.

Their hands brush as they go for the same page and the man’s eyes flicker up, locking with Magnus' and wow, okay this man's got an even prettier face than he did a back.

He has dark hair that looks even softer where it’s falling haphazardly over his forehead, and his eyes are a color Magnus has never laid eyes on before in his life. His skin is fair and a slight pink flush dances across his cheekbones. He's the epitome of beauty. Magnus doesn't know what to say.

The other man looks equally stuck, opening his mouth as if he is going to say something and then closing it again before taking a deep breath and speaking.

"Er- um- I'm Alec," he thrusts his hand out unceremoniously before looking down at it like he didn’t actually mean to move it.

Magnus takes his hand with a fond smile, watching as their hands tangle for a split second before Alec pulls away.

  
“Magnus,” he replies, putting on his best flirty smile. “You’re pretty,” it takes him a split second to realize he’s just voiced his thoughts out loud but at this point, it’s too late to do anything about it so he just smiles at Alec. It’s not like it’s a lie.

Alec’s eyes widen and the faint blush on his cheeks grows darker as he lowers his eyes to the ground and his eyelashes fan over his cheekbones.

He looks back up a second later and it looks like he’s about to answer but then his eyes lock on something behind Magnus and he glares hard.

Magnus turns around curiously and sees two girls standing in the doorway with lunch trays and identical smirks on their faces.

”Don’t you have anything better to do?” Alec asks from behind him and the two students giggle before exchanging a knowing look.

“Oh, don’t mind us, we were just leaving, you can go back to whatever you were just doing. It must be _very_ important.” The dark haired girl says before taking the blonde’s arm and turning to the hallway.

The blonde mouths something over her shoulder as she’s being dragged away that Magnus doesn’t catch but it makes Alec blush an even brighter red and Magnus can’t help but be endeared.

Once they’re gone he smiles at Alec another time, watching carefully as he runs a hand through his dark hair, mussing it up further.

“Your students?” He asks.

“Er-yeah, one of them is,” he says with a hint of embarrassment, “Sorry about them, they’re kind of a handful.”

  
“It’s okay, they seem to like you,” he looks at Alec with a raised eyebrow and Alec laughs lightly. Magnus grins to himself. He has a pretty laugh.

“If you mean, they _like_ to harass me, then yes. I don’t know why I put up with them.” He glares at the door as he says it but the gleam in his eyes tells Magnus exactly why he puts up with them. It makes his insides warm and he can’t help but smile at the other man again. He feels like all he’s done since he walked in here is smile. He guesses it’s not a bad thing.

Alec’s voice breaks Magnus out of his thoughts.

“Um- I don’t think I’ve seen you around. Are you a parent?” he’s rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly and Magnus is definitely not endeared. Nope.

“I’m actually the new drama teacher.”

Alec’s eyes widen and he looks like he’s just understood something that’s been bothering him.

“That makes so much sense now,” he mutters to himself.

“What does?”

“The fact that there has been a crowd outside the drama room all day.”

Magnus grins, “What? You mean to tell me that isn’t a _normal_ thing?” He teases.

“Of course not,” Alec says with a furrowed brow before the look turns into a small smile, “oh, you’re joking.”

Magnus grins. He thinks he’s going to end up liking Alec a lot. Maybe too much.

***  
“Just ask him to come join us,” Izzy rolls her eyes exasperatedly at Alec, who tries his best not to glare at his sister.

“All you’ve been able to talk about for the past 2 days is how calming his voice is and the exact color of his eyes. Were they brown? The color of dark chocolate? I can’t quite remember.” Jace teases from the spot beside him and Alec feels himself flush even as he turns his glare to him instead.

“I never said that,” he grumbles under his breath and Izzy grins at him.

“Sure, whatever you say, big brother.”

“He’s probably forgotten about me by now anyway,” Alec says, laying his head down on the table in front of him. He can’t get the image of Magnus out of his mind. The way his hands moved so gracefully and the way his brown eyes twinkled as he’d smiled at him. How he’d tilted his head slightly when he’d called Alec pretty. He groans. He’s pathetic. He can’t even go and ask Magnus to come join them for lunch.

He’s startled out of his moping when Izzy gets out of her chair.

“If you don’t do it, I’m going to go ask him myself.”

Alec is out of his chair before he even realizes what he’s doing.

“No, I’ll-um, I’ll do it.” he runs a hand through his hair nervously and glares as Izzy gives him a self-satisfied smirk. He hates his sister sometimes.

Alec takes his time walking down the hall to the drama room, trying to rehearse what he’s going to say. He doesn’t want Magnus to think he’s a stuttering mess. Even if it’s true.

When he walks into the room any sort of conversation that he’s rehearsed in his mind completely vanishes.

Magnus is even more striking than he remembers. Which he didn’t think was possible. He’s sitting at his desk reading aloud from what looks like a script and one of his students is perched on the desk, script in hand as well.

Magnus hasn’t noticed Alec and he debates turning around and just leaving. After all, it looks like he’s busy. Alec is stuck though. He’s stuck by the way Magnus’ voice lilts over the written words and how he moves slightly as if he wants to get up and fully play out the scene. He’s stuck by how he looks at the girl sitting in front of him with immense fondness as she reads out her own lines. And then he’s stuck by dark eyes locking with his own and looking startled for a second before they soften and he’s smiling a beautiful smile in Alec’s direction.

Alec grasps the doorway as a clutch because the way Magnus is looking at him is making him feel slightly unbalanced before he smiles tentatively back.

There’s silence as the girl finishes her line and Magnus and Alec just continue to smile at each other across the room.

Alec is startled when she clears her throat and Magnus’ eyes dart down and away from his own.

He silently mourns the loss of the warmth the eye contact had given him for a moment before Magnus starts speaking.

“Sorry, Livvy,”

The girl looks back at Alec and grins.

“It’s okay Mr. Bane. I think I’m good now.” She turns back to Magnus and they have a hushed conversation that Alec can’t hear from his spot at the door.

She leaves quickly after, giving Alec a once over that makes him furrow his brows, as she exits the room.

“So, what brings a handsome guy like you to my classroom on this fine day?” Magnus asks with bright eyes and a teasing smile.

Alec tries his hardest not to blush at the comment and steps further into the room to make his way to Magnus’ desk.

“The Importance Of Being Earnest right?” Alec asks instead, ignoring Magnus’ question because his brain can’t really process anything after he was just called handsome by quite literally the most beautiful person he has ever seen.

Magnus’ eyes light up and Alec mentally pats himself on the back for knowing the play.

“Indeed, are you an Oscar Wilde fan?” he asks and comes around the desk to lean against the front of it. Alec unconsciously tracks his movements and then tears his eyes away to the floor once he realizes what he’s been doing.

Magnus doesn’t notice or he doesn’t care but Alec’s heart still beats five times faster in his chest.

“He’s got a way with words,” Alec finally replies and sneaks a look back at Magnus who is looking at him with soft eyes and the barest trace of a smile.

“The truth is rarely pure and never simple.” Magnus answers and Alec grins at the way he says it with the lilt of someone who’s read the play a thousand times but still cares about the words.

“You didn’t answer my question though. Is there a reason I’ve been graced by the honor of your presence? Not that I’m complaining of course,” he says it teasingly and with a mischief in his eyes that makes Alec’s heart speed up.

“Well, you were really nice the other day so I was wondering if you wanted to come eat lunch with me and some of the other teachers.” He asks, looking up at Magnus through his eyelashes.

Delight blossoms in his chest when Magnus stands up at his desk and grins a bright genuine grin at him.

“Lead the way.”

Alec can’t quite hide the smile that makes its way onto his face as Magnus walks by his side back to his office where Izzy and Jace are waiting. If he walks a little closer than is strictly necessary no one has to know that but himself.

***  
Magnus gets along surprisingly well with Izzy and Jace warms up to him as well, once Magnus expresses interest in his teaching methods.

Clary shows up at some point and she and Magnus instantly get along.

Alec doesn’t know why but it makes him unexplainably happy to know that his siblings like Magnus. It feels weirdly like he’s introducing a boyfriend to the family even though he’s only known Magnus for a total of 4 days and this is only the second time he’s even talked to him.

He shakes the thought away and tries to pay attention to the conversation the rest of the group is having.

“I want to do a good job, live up to the standards that the former drama teacher has already put in place,” Magnus is saying and Alec rolls his eyes. Raj barely had any standards.

Jace must have been thinking the same thing because he chuckles dryly and turns to Magnus.

“Don’t worry, you don’t have that much to live up to, Raj was a dick.”

Magnus laughs, “that does explain a lot of the student’s reactions to me on my first day.”

He turns to smile at Alec.

For the entirety of the lunch period, Alec hasn’t taken his eyes off of Magnus. Except for the occasional moments when Magnus looks his way and he immediately averts his eyes. He needs to stop, but Magnus is too captivating for Alec to even try to tear his eyes away. It’s definitely a problem.

“That does make my plan a bit easier,” Magnus stops for a second for emphasis, eyes shining with excitement, “I want to put on a spring musical.”

Izzy claps her hands in agreement, “that’s a great idea. We haven’t had one of those in years.”

Magnus sends a glittering wink her way,

“Then it’s settled.”

***  
As soon as the bell signaling the end of the school day sounds, Magnus is gathering up his haphazardly made pile of scripts and making his way to Alec’s office in the band room without really thinking about what he’s doing.

When he gets there he sees him bent over his desk, hair falling over his eyes and debates standing in the door and just watching him for a bit.

He looks engrossed in whatever he’s doing and there’s that furrow in his brow that shouldn’t be as cute as Magnus thinks it is.

Watching Alec would be creepy though, so Magnus clears his throat softly and knocks once on the open door.

Alec’s head shoots up and Magnus watches in delight as his surprise quickly morphs into a soft sort of welcoming smile.

Magnus hopes he’s not grinning too widely back at him.

“Hi,” Alec says, an unasked question behind his words. Magnus is slightly surprised by how well he can read him given they’ve known each other less than a week. There’s something about Alec. Magnus can’t quite put his finger on it, but he feels comfortable around him in a way he hasn’t felt around someone in a long time.

“I wanted your opinion on something.”

Alec’s eyebrows shoot up to his hairline.

“Me?”

“Yes, you,” he moves forward into the room and drops all the scripts down onto Alec’s organized desk.

Alec’s eyes move from Magnus’ face to the pile and then back again. Magnus tracks the movement with a slight smile. He quite likes those eyes on him.

“I was wondering if you’d help me decide what musical to put on.”

Alec looks back at him incredulously as if he can’t fathom why Magnus would want his opinion. Magnus makes it his new goal to change that.

“You like Oscar Wilde so I figure you have good taste,” Magnus explains and Alec’s eyes seem to light up even in the dim artificial light of the school. Magnus thinks it’s absolutely beautiful.

He tears his gaze away and picks up the first few scripts off of Alec’s desk, reveling in the way his eyes follow the movement of his hand as he flips each script face up.

He recites the names as he does so while Alec looks on with rapt attention.

“We’ve got Legally Blonde, Young Frankenstein, Company, Wicked, and at least a dozen more.”

Alec looks slightly overwhelmed and Magnus chuckles to himself.

“I’m not asking for you to choose for me, just your opinion because I think you’d give good advice.”

At that Alec smiles slightly and straightens up in his chair.

“I actually really enjoy musicals,” he says with a hesitancy that says he hasn’t told many people this fact. Magnus is touched he gets to know.

“I think, um, that since this is your first musical here you should probably do something well-known so that people will want to come.” Magnus nods but lets him keep speaking because from the way that he’s started waving his hands around and swiveled his chair towards Magnus, he knows he’s not done yet.

“That way people will come and see how good you are. And then when you do a less well-known show maybe next year or the year after that, people will still come see it.”

Magnus gives an impressed nod. It’s smart. And it seems like he’s given it a lot of thought. Instead of voicing this though, he winks at Alec who goes a shade of pink that makes Magnus grin.

“Who says I’m any good?”

Alec tries to stutter out a reply and Magnus tries not to show how endeared he is when they’re interrupted by a voice.

“Hey, Mr. Lightwood.”

It’s the blonde girl that Magnus had seen when he’d first met Alec and Ty Blackthorn, one of Magnus’ most promising students (even though he’s only known him a week), is standing next to her, hands in his pocket and eyes wandering the room silently.

“Emma,” Alec says startled, but he’s smiling, “do you need something?”

Emma grins as she looks between Magnus and Alec and her eyes turn mischievous.

“I _did_ come to ask whether you’d found out about the all state audition music, but I can see that you’re quite busy so I’ll come back another time.” She winks and turns to Ty and indicates that they’re leaving.

As they make their way out of the room he hears Emma talking.

“I _told_ you” she whispers under her breath but still loud enough that both he and Alec can hear. Magnus looks away from Alec’s face.

“If two people are sitting in a room together it means they like each other?” comes Ty’s confused answer before they’re too far away to be heard any longer.

When Magnus turns his attention back to Alec he’s flushed a darker shade of pink than he was before and Magnus can feel his own blush creeping onto his cheeks.

“Well, that was interesting.”

***  
Magnus is in the middle of his advanced theater class when he hears music coming through his open door.

He smiles when he realizes that it’s the band. He irrationally wants to leave his class and go watch Alec conduct his group of students. They sound very good for a group of high school students and Magnus feels oddly proud even though they aren’t his students.

He sweeps his eyes around the room. His students are busy practicing scenes for their presentations next week so he’s really just making sure no disasters happen at the moment. As he looks around an idea forms in his mind.

He grabs a post-it from his desk drawer and grins as he scribbles a note down onto it.

“Cristina,” he calls and the girl looks up from where she’s watching Ty go through his lines in the corner of the room, “could you go to the band room and give this to Mr. Lightwood please?”

Cristina’s dark eyes sparkle as she nods and sends him a knowing smirk. Magnus looks impassively back pretending he has no idea why she’s giving him that look.

He knows both his and Alec’s students have picked up on the connection he and Alec have. They haven’t been very subtle about it. But it’s not like he’s going to _let_ them know he knows.

He smiles as Cristina takes the post-it and makes her way out of the drama room.

***  
Alec is surprised when Cristina, the drama student who always seems to be running around with Emma, shows up at his classroom during his wind symphony class.

She grins at Emma as she walks in, mouthing something that makes the other girl grin wide at Alec.

Alec sends a prayer that this isn’t some practical joke they’ve planned on him. It wouldn’t be the first time.

When Cristina hands him a post-it and says, “Mr. Bane told me to give you this,” he’s pleasantly surprised and tries his hardest not to blush as he takes the post-it and all his students look on with wide eyes.

He looks down at the post-it as Cristina is leaving and grins wide before he can stop himself.

_I can hear your students all the way down the hall ;)_

Alec tells the students to work on their own on the piece they had been playing as he grabs a post-it of his own.

He makes eye contact with both Julian and Kieran as he sets the post-it down on a hard surface to write and they both grin knowingly at him. Alec rolls his eyes in response. Why are these students so invested in this _thing_ , whatever it is, he has with Magnus.

He writes out a note in response smiling as he does so and sends it off with Kieran who is closest to the door.

_It’s not hard on the ears though now is it?_

Ten minutes later a blonde student comes into the room bearing another post-it. This time the entire class giggles when he takes it from the blonde boy and he has to reprimand them even as his cheeks burn.

_You know I would never insult your wonderful students_

Alec feels his lips quirk up into a smile and has to fight it. He is not going to look like a teenager with a crush in front of all these actual teenagers. He’s an adult goddamnit

“What does it say?” Kieran asks and Alec sighs before placing the post-it on the table behind him next to the other one.

“None of your business,” he says pointedly but he’s grinning.

***  
The next day Alec is surprised when Magnus walks into the band room during one of the passing periods.

Students are starting to make their way into the classroom, all pausing for a second when they see Magnus and then smirking at each other.

Alec doesn’t understand why they’re so invested in this.

“Alec,” Magnus greets, purposefully ignoring the curious looks from the students.

“Magnus,” Alec answers because he’s an idiot and can’t think of anything better to say.

“I have some very important news.” Magnus’ eyes are shining and Alec tries not to stare, he really does, it just doesn’t work.

“You also have a class,” he answers, not taking his eyes off of Magnus. Somehow his eyes shine brighter at Alec’s words.

“Indeed I do, but first I thought you should know that I’ve decided that the drama department will be putting on the musical _Grease_ this spring. You, of course, are cordially invited.”

Alec grins and Magnus grins and they stay like that for a long second before an idea starts to form in Alec’s mind.

He lets a knowing smirk make its way onto his face and watches with glee as confusion sneaks its way into Magnus’ eyes.

“Stay there,” he tells him, flicking a glance at the clock on the wall to make sure he has enough time before class starts.

He claps his hands together and makes his way onto the podium at the front of the room.

The class’ chattering dies down and Alec looks down at all the expectant faces.

“I’d like to make an announcement. The drama department is putting on a musical this spring. So if you guys want, and of course if Mr. Bane agrees,” He nods his head in the direction of Magnus who still has confusion written across his face but is smiling up at him all the same, “I was hoping we could provide the pit for the show.”

He looks to Magnus for approval even as several hands shoot up into the air and loud excited chatter starts to fill the room.

Magnus nods slightly with a light shining in his eyes that makes Alec’s heart swoop and he grins back at the class.

“Is that a yes?”

When the class murmurs its consent Magnus sends Alec a gleaming thumbs up and disappears from the room.

The next day Alec receives a score of all the music for the musical and a post-it stuck to the cover.

_Thanks - and just so you know, I quite like the shirt you’re wearing today_

Alec absolutely does not blush and absolutely does not stuff the note into his jacket pocket for safekeeping.

Nope.

***  
A week later Magnus is sitting in the first row of the auditorium, Alec leaning on the front of the stage with a clipboard.

“You know, you don’t have to stay here with me for the auditions,” Magnus says, trying to be polite. He’s actually pleased that Alec volunteered to help him today. It would be a disaster if he’d tried to do it alone, to be honest. And well, Magnus may or may not enjoy Alec’s company just a little bit.

“I want to,” Alec replies, distractedly flipping through the names of the students on the clipboard.

“I’ve always wanted to see what the audition process is like. And I-” he cuts himself off, his cheeks going a rosy shade of pink and Magnus has to fight the urge to lean over and kiss them.

He takes a breath and turns to Magnus fully before continuing.

“And I like spending time with you,” he says it fast and as soon as it’s out his eyes dart to the ground shyly. Magnus wants to coo at how cute he is. Instead, he grins at the warm feeling in his chest and looks at Alec until their eyes meet again.

“Well, that’s a relief, because I quite like spending time with you as well.”

Alec’s answering smile does something to Magnus he can’t quite explain.

They stay like that, smiling at each other until Izzy bursts into the auditorium with a grin. She pauses for a second when she notices the two of them and grins harder but doesn’t say anything, just smiles knowingly at Alec.

“The students are ready. I think they’re getting antsy.”

Magnus turns to Alec with a gleam in his eyes.

“Bring in the first contestant for Danny..”

***  
Later, when they’ve finished the dancing portion of the audition and the students are starting to leave for the day, Magnus notices a group of students walk over to Alec where he’s hanging out on the edge of the stage.

“Mr. Lightwood?” Magnus sees Ty look up at Alec with wide eyes.

“Oh, hi- yes?” Alec startles and Magnus smiles at the way he turns and jumps slightly when he notices the group of students all looking at him.

“How come this is the first time you’ve ever helped with a musical when you’ve been teaching here for years now?” Ty goes on matter a factly. The rest of the students nod solemnly behind him as if this question haunts them all.

“Uh,” Alec throws a questioning glance over to Magnus and narrows his eyes when he sees him already staring back. He looks between the group of students and Magnus as if asking for assistance. Magnus just shrugs his shoulders to say he’s on his own for this one. The glare Alec sends his way makes his insides alight with giddiness.

“Mr. Bane is my friend,” Alec finally answers, turning back to his students.

“Yeah sure, your _friend_ ,” Mark, another one of Magnus’ students, says sending a smirk Alec’s way over Ty’s shoulder.

Magnus watches the exchange with amusement and has to hold back a laugh at the absolute incredulity on Alec’s face as the students walk away.

Once all the students have left and it’s just Magnus and Alec in the auditorium once again, Alec flops into the seat next to Magnus and peers over his shoulder at the notepad where Magnus has been taking notes on the auditions.

Magnus grins to himself at the proximity of Alec’s body to his as he leans closer to look. Alec has gotten more comfortable with Magnus since they’ve started working on the musical together. Magnus loves it. Loves they way their bodies will casually brush against each other. The way Alec smiles wide and comfortably at him when he thinks he isn’t looking and even sometimes when he is looking. It’s quite distracting, but a welcome distraction all the same.

“So,” Alec says, leaning out of Magnus’ personal space much to his disappointment, “what did you think of everyone?”

Magnus glances at the notepad and then back up at Alec.

“I’ve definitely found my Danny Zuko.”

“Really? Who?” Alec’s eyes are warm and hazel and Magnus thinks he could drown in the fact that Alec actually cares about this musical maybe as much as Magnus does.

“Ty Blackthorn.”’

***  
Magnus makes his way to the art room during his free period on a mission to find Clary.

“Magnus,” she exclaims when she sees him, lighting up.

Magnus grins at her with a bright smile. He and Clary have become fast friends. The fiery redhead is just too damn sweet not to love.

She has paint all over her t-shirt and her long hair up in a bun as she grins at Magnus, students with huge canvas’ in their arms zipping around the room as if they own the place. None of them pay the two of them any mind. Well, except for the blonde boy who watches them from the corner.

“What brings you here?” Clary asks as she sets down her paintbrush and turns her attention to him fully.

“I was wondering if you’d be willing to help create the set for the spring musical. Alec’s probably told you, but we’re doing _Grease_.”

Clary’s green eyes light up with excitement and Magnus grins brightly back at her. That reaction looks promising.

“Kit and Julian were just mentioning that to me the other day. I was going to come find you about it but I completely forgot. I’d love to and the students need a new project to work on anyways so it’s perfect!”

The blonde boy who had been not so subtly listening in on their conversation, stops in his tracks where he’s passing the two of them.

His blue eyes stare at them with an excited gleam.

“So we’re helping with the musical?” he asks Clary and when she confirms this he turns his gaze over to Magnus.

“Ty Blackthorn is the lead right?” He asks Magnus earnestly.

Magnus nods his head and is surprised when the boy’s entire face seems to light up at his answer.

The boy doesn’t explain and Magnus watches him pick up his canvas and walk away with a confused stare.

Clary seems to notice his confusion and laughs lightly.

“That’s Kit. I’m pretty sure he has a thing for Ty.”

Magnus watches Kit, a blush still high on his cheeks, talk animatedly to another student and grins. He seems like just the kind of person Ty would like. He makes a mental note to make sure the two of them spend time together somehow.

***  
When Alec walks into the auditorium for the first rehearsal he’s quickly bombarded by a hoard of drama students.

“You’ve been hanging out with Mr. Bane a lot, so we thought that we should introduce ourselves,” Cristina says and Alec sees from the corner of his eye that Emma and the rest of his students are standing by Magnus doing the same thing.

Magnus meets his eyes over the group of students and Alec can’t help but grin at the shrug and fond smile he sends Alec’s way.

“I’m Cristina, but you knew that because of Emma.” She points at the dark haired boy next to her who smiles shyly back at Alec.

“That’s Ty, and that’s his twin sister Livvy,” she points at the dark-haired girl who stands close to Ty.

“That’s Mark,” she says pointing to the blonde, “and that’s Kit, but he’s not in drama he’s helping with the set.”

Said boy gives Alec a lopsided grin and wave when Cristina says his name and Alec smiles back.

Alec chats with the small group of students for a while and finds that they’re all wonderful kids when they’re not smirking knowingly at him about Magnus.

Ty is blunt but insanely smart, Livvy is protective and sweet, Cristina is like a more stubborn dark-haired version of Emma, Kit is sarcastic and passionate, and Mark is shy and soft-spoken but extremely sweet. He instantly loves them all and is actually disappointed when Magnus claps his hands together and announces that the first rehearsal is starting.

***  
Alec spends most of the rehearsal going over music with his students who make up the pit while Magnus works with the drama students but he can’t help but be distracted by the other man.

No matter how hard he tries, his eyes keep flitting over to Magnus.

The man is a vision when he’s in his element. He commands the room without being condescending and he effortlessly knows exactly how to describe what he wants the students to do to make it look perfect. Alec spends the entire rehearsal tracking his fluid movements across the stage, eyes locked on how comfortable he is as he gives people feedback and warm encouraging smiles and Alec is in awe.

When Magnus ends up in the middle of the stage to help demonstrate a dance number to Cristina and Ty, any chance Alec had of tearing his eyes away and actually concentrating on the music he’s supposed to be conducting disappears.

Magnus moves with a fluidity that Alec didn’t know was possible for a human being and a pure, elated grin stretches wide across his face. Magnus seems to sense Alec’s eyes on him because he turns slightly in his direction as he throws his hands up in the last move of the dance and sends Alec a sparkling wink.

Alec blushes and just about dies where he’s standing.

Magnus is sweaty and breathing hard when he joins Alec down by the seats and Alec has to try extremely hard stop himself from combusting on the spot.

“You can dance,” Alec says and internally hits himself because _obviously, he can_

“Of course I can,” Magnus is looking up at him like he knows exactly what he’s doing to Alec and Alec really wants to punch him and kiss him at the same time. It’s very confusing.

“Wow,” he breathes out instead and Magnus chuckles knowingly.

***  
A week later, they’ve decided to do a run through of the songs that they’ve learned so far with the pit.

Alec gets to the auditorium ten minutes before rehearsal and watches his students warm up, flipping idly through his score.

Kit and some of the other art students are moving finished set pieces backstage. The drama students are mulling around the stage waiting for Magnus to arrive and tell them what scene they’re doing first.

The room is a cacophony of sound between the instruments warming up, the set pieces being rolled across the stage and the loud chatter of the students; so Alec almost doesn’t notice Ty running out of the room looking panicked.

He runs past Magnus as he’s walking into the room and looks behind him at the door Ty just left through, concern on his face.

“I got him,” Alec says, coming to join Magnus by the door, “you start rehearsal.”

Magnus nods as Alec slips through the doors and starts to search the fine arts wing for any sign of the dark haired boy.

He finally finds him in the boys dressing room.

“Ty?” Alec asks hesitantly. Ty doesn’t move or answer him so he takes a step further into the room.

Ty’s curled in the corner, hands around his knees and is rocking back and forth. He looks infinitely smaller curled up the way he is, and Alec feels a sudden want to go over and hold him. He doesn’t know if touching him is a good idea though, so instead, he walks over and crouches in front of Ty hesitantly.

“Hey bud, you okay?” He asks softly, careful not to raise his voice. He then internally rolls his eyes at himself because he’s _obviously_ not okay. Alec honestly doesn’t know what to do and he watches helplessly as Ty keeps rocking against the wall.

“Hey, it’s okay. You’re fine. I’m just going to wait here with you okay?” He murmurs softly, using the voice he used to use on both Max and Izzy when they were younger and upset.

“It’s too loud. Too much right now.” Ty whispers after a few moments of Alec sitting next to him by the wall.

“Okay,” Alec says with a slight nod, pushing off the wall, “that’s okay.”

He searches Ty’s face and sees traces of panic in his eyes still. He’s also still rocking back and forth. Alec doesn’t want to leave him alone. A surge of protectiveness that he didn’t know he had for a student he’d really only just met, making its way into his chest.

As he searches Ty’s face again Kit enters the dressing room and is by Ty’s side in an instant.

“Ty,” he breathes, before looking up at Alec, “what happened?”

“He said it was too loud,” Alec explains, keeping his voice soft and still.

“Sensory overload,” Kit mutters to himself and realization dawns on Alec.

Kit isn’t paying attention to Alec anymore though, his blue eyes train unwaveringly on Ty.

“Tell me what you need.”

“Hold me,” comes Ty’s simple response.

Alec smiles slightly as Kit envelops Ty in his arms and holds him tight. Ty seems to calm a bit and Alec stands up from where he’s still crouched.

“I’ll tell Mr. Bane to run scenes without you in them for now, don’t worry about it.”

Kit nods and sends him a grateful smile.

Alec leaves the room with a final glance at the two boys tangled in the corner and breathes a sigh of relief. He’s glad someone is there for Ty and cares about him.

***  
Alec is surprised when Ty walks into his office a few days later.

He’s never spoken to Ty one on one he’s always had his friends with him when Alec’s interacted with him. Except for when he found him in the dressing room of course.

“Hi Ty, what can I do for you?” He asks, gesturing for Ty to take a seat in the chair in front of his desk.

Ty seems to look at the chair for a moment, debating before he sits down and faces Alec with big grey eyes.

“You like Mr. Bane?” he asks without preamble. Alec is startled and searches Ty’s face for any sort of indication of where he wants to take this conversation.

“Of course I do, he’s my friend,” Alec answers, watching as Ty’s eyes roam the walls of his office, avoiding eye contact but not in a way that seems deliberate.

“No, do you like him the way I like Kit?” He asks. This time there’s more force behind the words and Alec sees emotion in his eyes that makes him want to be completely honest with the boy. He has no idea why, but this 15-year-old has weaseled his way into his heart.

“How do you like Kit?” He asks softly, grinning as Ty smiles slightly and blushes, eyes flicking downward as he answers.

“A lot.”

Alec smiles back at him.

“Then yes.”

***  
Magnus and Alec decide to drop off a box of potential costumes in the dressing room before rehearsal and are surprised when they walk in to find two people in the center of the room, tangled together, lips locked.

Upon further inspection, Magnus realizes that it’s Kit and Ty. A fondness fills him as he watches Kit run a hand up Ty’s arm and Ty move impossibly closer into his space.

He turns to Alec with wide, excited eyes and sees the same fondness sparkling in the hazel.

He gestures back to the door and Magnus nods, understanding him without him having to say anything. They both back up and out of the room with mischievous grins on their faces. Magnus has to stop a laugh from gurgling out of him.

Once they’re outside the door and Alec has shut it as quietly as he can, Alec looks at the door consideringly and mutters “finally,” under his breath.

They dissolve into quiet giggles and Magnus, slides down to the floor and leans on the wall next to the door.

“Let's give them a minute,” he says and Alec joins him on the ground.

When they enter the room again they make sure to push open the door loudly

The two boys jump apart at the noise and Magnus’ grin grows as they both flush bright red when their eyes land on him.

They both stand there frozen for a moment before Kit starts stuttering unintelligibly.

“I-we-you-we were-um,” he looks at Ty as if silently asking him for aid but Ty is still frozen. Magnus would be alarmed but he’s smiling wide and looking at Kit with sparkling eyes so he thinks he’s okay.

Magnus grins at Ty and then Kit who is still trying to stutter out some sort of explanation.

“Sorry to interrupt, we’ll leave you two to it,” he says with a chuckle and a victorious smile. They were cute.

He drops the box of costumes and takes Alec’s hand, ignoring the way his pulse speeds up as their hands twine together, and pulls him out of the room.

***  
They don’t get time to talk about it until after rehearsal.

When the last of the students leave the auditorium for the day and Alec and Magnus are the only ones left he leans against the side of the stage and smiles mischievously up at Alec.

“So, Kit and Ty huh?”

He folds his arms on the edge of the stage and peers up at Alec through his eyelashes.

He’s putting set pieces away and cleaning up crumpled scripts from the floor.

Magnus busies himself watching his longs legs stride across the stage and the way he pushes his hair away from his face as he moves set pieces off the stage. Magnus should probably go help but he’s enjoying the view too much.

“Ty came to talk to me about it yesterday,” Alec is in front of him now, grinning down with sparkling hazel eyes.

Magnus thinks he’s the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen.

“Sit down Alexander, you don’t need to clean everything up, no ones using the auditorium tomorrow except us and it’ll get trashed all over again anyway.”

He agrees surprisingly easily and slides down to sit next to where Magnus is resting his head on his arms.

He turns to Magnus once he’s sitting and swings his feet once.

“They’re cute aren’t they?”

“They are,” Magnus agrees. Magnus has quickly become fond of Ty and seeing the way he lit up whenever Kit’s attention was on him had reminded Magnus of his own first crush back when he was a kid.

“It’s brave to do something about a crush isn’t it?” Alec muses, “I’m usually not brave enough to do anything about mine.”

He sighs and Magnus can’t stop the way his heart speeds up as his eyes lock with Magnus’ and he flushes a pretty pink.

“It is,” Magnus says because he can’t trust himself to say anything else with Alec looking at him like that. Like he holds the answers to all of his questions.

Alec shakes his head and breaks their eye contact.

“You know,” he says, staring at his feet, “you’re the best director I’ve seen, and the students love you.”

Magnus feels warmth burn in his chest. He’ll never get used to how genuine and sweet Alec is.

Magnus climbs onto the stage so that he can look at Alec properly and smiles.

“Thank you, Alexander.”

Alec smiles, “I’m glad you came here,” he breathes.

Their eyes lock and Alec is looking at him with so much trust and affection that Magnus has the sudden urge to kiss him.

They’re so close already. All he’d have to do is lean an inch forward and his lips would be pressed to Alec’s.

He’s surprised to find that there’s no reason that he shouldn’t do just that.

When Alec realizes what he’s doing his eyes widen but Magnus sees that he leans closer as well.

Magnus flutters his eyes closed and prepares himself for soft lips on his own but they never come. There’s a bang and they both flinch away from each other.

Magnus turns to see that a set piece has fallen onto the stage and internally curses at the inanimate object profusely for interrupting what was probably going to have been one of the best kisses he’s had in awhile. Fuck set pieces that just have to fall over at the most inopportune moments. He glares a moment at the offending object.

Alec is flushed and staring at Magnus wide-eyed when he turns his gaze back to him.

“I should uh- I should go.” He points behind himself and stumbles to his feet.

Magnus can only nod.

When he’s gone, Magnus lets himself fall back onto the stage with an annoyed sigh. Why do these things always happen to him?

***  
_A humble request: Vesuvius by Frank Ticheli_

Alec stares down at the post it Ty had delivered before class. He can’t believe it.

He’d told Magnus a few days ago that it was his favorite piece to conduct in the middle of one of his long rants about his favorite composers. He can’t believe Magnus remembered. His heart does a backflip in his chest and his lips involuntarily quirk up into a grin as he passes out the piece and climbs onto the podium.

Down the hall, in the theater room, Magnus pauses a second in the middle of his lecture on inflection when he hears the familiar sound of the piece Alec had played him a video of, a satisfied smile making its way onto his face.

***  
That afternoon Alec walks into his classroom and pauses in the doorway when he sees both his and Magnus’ students sat in a semi-circle in the middle of the room.

They’re talking in hushed whispers and looking at one another conspiratorially. Alec is about to clear his throat to announce his presence when he registers what they’re actually saying.

“The best way is to just lock them in a room together. They’ll be making out in ten minutes tops.” Cristina is saying crossing her arms and surveying the room as if daring them to disagree.

“I still think my post it idea is better,” Julian mutters, “have you seen Mr. Lightwood’s face everytime he gets one?”

Alec is startled to realize that they’re talking about him. About him and Magnus. He’d known the students had been aware of his and Magnus’ connection, or whatever it was, but he didn’t know they were _this_ invested.

He walks into the room, loud enough to make his presence known.

“Are you talking about my love life without me?”

All the heads turn to him in a synchronized sweep and Alec laughs as they all stare wide-eyed and in shock.

“We um-“ Kit tries and trails off.

“Ty told us you like Mr. Bane like he likes Kit and they kissed so we’re just helping,” Emma says with a smirk and Alec rolls his eyes.

“Emma!” Julian reprimands and slaps her in the shoulder. Emma doesn’t react, still looking at Alec with gleaming eyes.

“What? He already heard us talking. No need to lie.”

“This ruins the plan though!” Mark says looking surprisingly disappointed.

Alec grins at all the students and an idea makes its way into his mind.

“Actually, would you mind if I joined this little planning committee?”

The students all look at him in shock and Alec shrugs. He likes Magnus. They’ve been sort of flirting for weeks now and he wants something to come of it so why not? It’s now or never.

“Really?” Ty asks with excited eyes and Alec grins back at him.

“I mean what can I say, Mr. Bane is cute.”

***  
Alec is nervously pacing the stage when Izzy, Jace, and Clary walk in. Alec internally groans when he sees that Izzy is grinning evilly in his direction.

The trio make their way down the aisle to the side of the stage and Alec goes to meet them reluctantly. The students are busy getting their posters in order so Alec supposed he has time before Magnus gets to the auditorium.

“I can’t believe you’re actually going to do this, you do know I’m going to record this so I can show it to your children one day right?” Izzy’s bouncing on her toes and Clary sets a hand on her shoulder to calm her down.

Alec looks at Izzy’s maniacal grin and then to the phone she has open on the camera and finds that he really doesn’t care if Izzy records it.

“If this goes well, I don’t care,” Alec grins as Jace looks back at him in shock and Clary smiles.

“Good luck, Lightwood,” she says with a tip of an imaginary hat and then suddenly Ale is being pulled away by excited students exclaiming that Magnus is on his way and that he needs to get ready.

***  
Magnus holds the post-it he’d received from Alec during class today telling him to meet him in the auditorium before rehearsal in his hand as he makes his way down the hall.

He hasn’t got a clue what Alec could want but the snickers and unsubtle glances between his students when he’d received the message told him they were somehow involved.

They’d also all suspiciously disappeared right after the final bell had rung.

Something is up. Magnus just doesn’t know what.

When he walks into the auditorium he finds it empty until Kieran and Mark appear on either side of him and guide him into a seat in the front row.

“What’s going on?” Magnus asks confusedly. He searches the room for Alec but can’t find him anywhere.

Both boys grin giddily at Magnus and he furrows his brows in confusion.

What the hell is going on?

“Just wait,” Kieran says, wiggling his eyebrows, “I think you’ll like it.”

With that they turn and disappear, leaving Magnus alone in the dark auditorium to question his decision of coming here when he knew the students were planning something.

There’s a noise and the stage light flicks on, bathing center stage in light. A second later Magnus hears the opening piano chords of _you're the one that I want_ and then his jaw is on the floor because Alec is there center stage, wearing a black leather jacket and holding a single rose.

Magnus’ mouth goes dry at the sight and he lets his eyes roam Alec’s tall dark figure for a moment before it dissolved into a fond affection when Alec points at Magnus and mouths the words to the song.

Magnus can’t believe this is happening.

He grins painfully wide as Alec does an awful dance move and seems to laugh at himself as he makes his way across the stage.

That’s when Magnus notices that the students have all lined up across the stage with posters in their hands.

As Alec skips down the stairs of the stage during the last chorus the students turn their posters over one by one and Magnus places a hand over his heart and laughs loud and unabashed when he sees what’s written on them.

_Will you go out on a date with Mr. Lightwood?_

Alec is now standing in front of Magnus, breathing hard, hair disheveled and eyes a sparkling hazel. Magnus wouldn’t be able to tell him no even if he had wanted to.

He dramatically holds the rose out to Magnus as the last chord rings out.

Magnus stands up, keeping eye contact with Alec as he takes the rose from his hand and smells it.

“So?” He asks, expectantly and Magnus warms at the excitement slight in his eyes.

He grabs the front of his shirt and presses their lips together.

Alec lets out a surprised noise as their lips meet and Magnus has to hold back a laugh.

Alec’s lips are soft sweet against him when he kisses him back and Magnus can feel him smile into the kiss. He almost forgets that there are a dozen or so teenagers watching them right now, and loses himself in the hypnotic movement of Alec’s lips against his.

He reluctantly pulls away when someone clears their throat meaningfully and rests his forehead against Alec’s.

“Took you long enough, Lightwood.”

**Author's Note:**

> There you have it! I hope you liked it!! Comments and kudos are appreciated!
> 
> Also!! Side note: Everyone should go look up Vesuvius by Frank Ticheli on YouTube because it’s a fucking bomb ass piece and I love it to death!
> 
> I’m on tumblr at [lightwormsiblings](https://lightwormsiblings.tumblr.com) If you want to come yell with me!

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[PODFIC] Music To My Ears](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14813028) by [Accal1a](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Accal1a/pseuds/Accal1a)




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